Westwood’s solar-energy experts get a lot more local calls these days.

The Eden Prairie engineering firm, which historically performed most of its solar-site assessment and facility-design work outside of Minnesota, is among several Twin Cities companies benefiting from a flare-up in Minnesota solar development.

“We did some high-profile projects in Minnesota a few years ago, but then things really tapered off and most of our business was in almost every other state,” said Aaron Tippie, Westwood’s vice president of power. “With the revised legislation, interest in projects in the state has really started to pick up.”

The legislation that Tippie refers to requires investor-owned utilities in Minnesota to generate 1.5 percent of their electric sales from solar power by 2020. That percentage sounds small, but the infrastructure development required to meet it is big. Xcel Energy Inc., for instance, must increase its solar-electric capacity more than 20-fold over the next six years from about 14 megawatts now to between 270 and 300 megawatts. The development required to meet Xcel’s needs alone is expected to lure national solar players to Minnesota. And the combination of the state mandate, the declining cost of solar energy and state incentives will generate more business for Twin Cities solar developers, professional-services firms and manufacturers in the coming years.

Of course, as with any energy source that’s partially reliant on subsidies, there’s a risk that those opportunities will shrink or otherwise change along with government policy.

Project boom

There already are several solar projects underway in Minnesota, and Xcel this week released a request for proposals for up to 100 megawatts of solar capacity it wants to add by the end of 2016. That RFP is expected to attract national solar players to compete with local companies that are used to having the Minnesota market to themselves.

The state mandate automatically creates a market for development, but the overall declining cost of solar power also plays a big role, said Betsy Engelking, vice president of development for Geronimo Energy, an Edina-based company that’s planning a $250 million solar project in Minnesota.

Minnesota ranks No. 29 nationwide when it comes to solar capacity (see chart on page 12). It doesn’t have large swaths of sunny desert to develop, and farmland is often too profitable to convert into energy sites. Still, solar can become a meaningful part of the state’s energy portfolio, said Laura McCarten, Xcel’s regional vice president. “We don’t have desert, but I think developers know how to design solar and get the maximum capacity out of it.”

For instance, Geronimo will develop marginal and abandoned-industrial property near cities across the state rather than build one massive solar farm, Engelking said. “We’re choosing smaller, multiple sites that feed right into an area where customers will absorb it.”

The project, the largest in the state’s history, would include between 20 and 25 arrays that generate up to 100 megawatts of power combined. Geronimo is negotiating a power-purchase agreement with Xcel, which would buy energy from the project.

Other developers aim to profit from smaller “community-solar” projects. River Falls, Wis.-based Able Inc., for instance, plans a $2 million, 4,000-panel project in Woodbury that would generate energy to power 150 homes. It may build up to four more projects in Washington County and is scouting for sites in Hennepin County, said Ben Ganje, Able’s spokesman.

For now, most of the community-solar developers are local, but Ganje expects companies from Colorado and possibly California to move into the Twin Cities market over the next year.

Meanwhile, some Twin Cities companies are going even smaller than Able, including Minneapolis-based Minnesota Community Solar. That company already sold out subscriptions for a rooftop project at the Northern Sun merchandising building at 2916 E. Lake St. Those solar panels will power up to 10 homes.

Minnesota Community Solar on Tuesday announced an additional project that will place panels atop the roof of Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis.

The company targets faith-based organizations and businesses to serve as anchor tenants for solar projects by purchasing up to 40 percent of the power generated by rooftop panels, said CEO Ken Bradley. Other Community Solar customers would purchase the rest.

Other examples of smaller projects in Minnesota include a rooftop array at Target Corp.’s Midway store in St. Paul. That project was one of 16 solar developments funded by about $18 million in renewable energy grants. Such rooftop projects have been popular with some businesses, including Ikea, which has solar panels installed on its Bloomington store.

Local players

The state Legislature last year passed a $150 million “Made in Minnesota” solar initiative, which provides incentives annually over 10 years to businesses and homeowners who complete solar projects using locally made solar panels.

Two manufacturers qualified for the program, Bloomington-based tenKsolar Inc. and Marysville, Wash.-based Silicon Energy, which has a manufacturing plant in Mount Iron, Minn.

The state received more applications than it anticipated and selected winners by lottery.

Silicon Energy expects much of its Minnesota sales to come through the program, said Vice President Grant Brohm. He declined to disclose the company’s revenue, but said the business continues to expand and recently opened a showroom and marketing office in Northeast Minneapolis. The company employs 10 people there and expects to add between 10 and 15 more over the next two years, Brohm said.

“We’re on a trajectory for sustained year-over-year growth,” he said. “It’s picking up and continues to pick up.”

Activity statewide will generate business opportunities for professional-services businesses like Westwood, the Eden Prairie engineering firm. Geronimo Energy often hires Minnesota-based businesses or local offices of national companies, like architecture firm HDR Inc., for projects, Engelking said.

Other Twin Cities companies with solar expertise include Golden Valley-based Mortenson Construction. National players entering the market will generate more competition, but Tippie said Minnesota has the expertise to compete.

For now, solar-energy services only make up about 8 percent of Westwood’s revenue, but Tippie expects that could increase to between 10 and 15 percent in the coming years.